Californians in shock as gas prices soar past $5/gallon to all-time record

In a week when the American public was expected to thrill to an alleged 7.8 percent unemployment rate, another number was making headlines and causing headaches. Gas prices in California reached an all-time record Saturday: an average of $4.614 a gallon.

Gas prices hit an all-time average high in California of $4.6140 a gallon today http://t.co/JqwPmzD4

When gas prices rose to around $4 a gallon in mid-2008, then-Sen. Obama declared high gas prices “a huge problem, bordering on a crisis” to most Americans and blamed the failed energy policies of previous administrations. About that hope and change…